Epping Council will have its bid to stop the Home Office housing migrants at The Bell Hotel heard at the High Court today.

Epping Forest District Council (EFDC) is in the midst of a lengthy legal battle against Somani Hotels over the use of The Bell - with the Home Office intervening in the case.

Earlier this year, a High Court judge granted EDFC a temporary injunction which would have stopped 138 "asylum seekers" from being housed there beyond September 12.

But this was controversially overturned by the Court of Appeal in August, which labelled the move "seriously flawed in principle".

Starting at 10.30am on Wednesday, the council's bid for a permanent injunction will be heard across three days at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.

Both Somani Hotels and the Home Office are opposing the claim.

EFDC had taken Somani Hotels to court in August for an alleged breach of planning rules.

Somani was accused of having failed to notify the council that more than 100 migrants were set to move in.

PICTURED: Epping Forest District Council leader Chris Whitbread outside the High Court in August

Council barristers told the High Court the hotel was causing a "very serious problem" which "could not be much worse".

Following the Court of Appeal's judgment in August, Home Office minister Dame Angela Eagle claimed the Government was committed to closing all asylum hotels by the end of this Parliament.

However, she said the Home Office appealed against the High Court ruling so that the hotel could be returned to its proper purpose in a "controlled and orderly way".

In September, the department lost its bid to delay Wednesday's hearing by six weeks.

Home Office barristers said there should be a "period of reflection" after the Court of Appeal's ruling.

Following the Court of Appeal's judgment in August, Home Office minister Dame Angela Eagle claimed the Government was committed to closing all asylum hotels by the end of this Parliament | GETTY

But judge Mr Justice Eyre threw out its bid, saying: "It is in the interests of all that the matters affecting The Bell Hotel are resolved in a reasonably expeditious way."

The hotel found itself at the centre of nationwide fury this summer after one of its inhabitants sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl.

Ethiopian illegal migrant Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu had arrived in Dover - alongside 584 others - via small boat in late June.

But just a few days later, Kebatu carried out multiple sex crimes.

One of his victims, a 14-year-old schoolgirl, revealed how his assaults meant that "every time I go out with my friends, I am checking over my shoulder".

PICTURED: Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu during his arrest by Essex Police

A second asylum seeker living at the hotel at taxpayers' expense, Syrian Mohammed Sharwarq, was jailed for 16 weeks last month for assaulting two fellow residents and two members of staff at The Bell.

Sir Keir Starmer claimed he "completely" understands people's concerns about migration, adding: "When it comes to the asylum hotels, I want them emptied."

But his approach to migrant hotels has been panned by groups like Epping's Pink Ladies - a campaign group formed by mothers concerned about their children's safety around the hotels.

At the start of October, members of the Pink Ladies told GB News that Britain's children were "not safe" as they descended on Westminster to protest against hotels.

One, Nina, warned the People's Channel: "I don't believe they are [safe]. No, not at all... We've got 130 unlisted men, no paper, living in our hotel.

"There's a pathway that they go through to the schools. They've already obviously molested a girl, they go in the shops in Epping, they do what they want and they take all the stuff."

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has accused the PM of putting "the rights of illegal immigrants above the rights of British people".

She has urged Tory councils like Epping's to proceed with legal action against hotels being used to house migrants.